With Situation Critical, we present artists with various life situations-- some joyous, some terrible, some bizarre-- to find out which songs, albums, or bands they would turn to under those specific circumstances. This time, we spoke with prolific rocker Ty Segall, who has two new albums: the just-releasedSleeperand the debut self-titled record from his band Fuzz, due out October 1 via In the Red**.

You’re on your parents’ computer and can only listen to music on YouTube...

“Hocus Pocus” by Focus is my current YouTube jam. It’s this insane prog band from the early 70s. This dude is just riffing super hard, and then there’s a break where the lead singer/organist yodels. It happens every 40 seconds, and at the very end, he whistles and plays the flute. It’s one of the most entertaining things I’ve ever seen.

You’re at a bowling alley and it's your turn to pick a song on the jukebox...

Something classic, like the Steve Miller Band-- their hits are so good. I went surfing once and there was a music festival happening on the beach in Orange County at Dana Point. One of the coolest moments of my life was when, right as I stood up to take a wave, fucking Steve Miller Band went into “Fly Like an Eagle”. I swear to God, it was intense. I was on there for “doot-doot-doo-doo!” and then fell off.

Howlin’ Wolf. He the best, man. In my hometown, Laguna Beach, there’s this record store; in the 60s and 70s, there were insane trippy artist people in Laguna Beach with great music taste, so you go into this store and find these crazy-ass records. But the dude who owns the store now has one of those record books with the supposed prices of records. It’s pretty fucking wack. I went in there and found The White Album, which is usually a $3-5 record if it’s beat to shit, right? The dude was asking for $40. I was like “It’s scratched to fucking shit, man. What the hell?” But the thing is about this guy is that he's clueless about blues or punk or psych. So I went in there and found a stack of 15 insane old blues records from the 50s and 60s: pristine Howlin’ Wolf and Lightnin’ Hopkins. He sold them all to me for $7 each. Those are the records that are worth $40. He’s such a moron, man.

Black Sabbath's Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. I think it might be the heaviest one.

You’re driving through the middle of America on a tour bus...

“Tiny Dancer” by Elton John, and that's completely, 100% related to [Almost Famous]. I know it’s completely ridiculous, but I like that movie; I love Led Zeppelin and ‘70s rock’n’roll. I know it’s absurd music, and that whole "baby, baby, baby" style is wacky with lyrical content and sexual misogyny, but dude, I like it. It sounds good. They’re great records. I look at Led Zeppelin and I look at Almost Famous and I feel something.

I had a conversation with some person at a coffee shop who was like, “Elvis Presley was a racist and he’s the reason why racism is in music today.” I was like, “So let me guess, you don’t like Led Zeppelin either, huh?” She’s like, “I fucking hate Led Zeppelin.” I was like “Alright, I’ll take my coffee to go please. Thank you.” What the fuck. You can’t dissect it like you would in college. You’ve got to just enjoy it.

You are playing your child music for the first time...

I’d probably start with “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” or “Love Me Do”. Then during their development, I'd keep it going with later Beatles, eventually Plastic Ono Band, go into a little Ram. The first cassette tape I ever got was Abbey Road when I was like nine. I remember being like, “Whoa! This is weird.”

The first Sabbath album-- I feel like my friends would be there with me. And for the first dance, I'd do the Ramones' "Oh Oh I Love Her So": [sings] “I met her at the Burger King/ We fell in love by the soda machine.”

You’re working a shitty data entry job that allows you to wear headphones...

I’d start off with the Wipers or the Urinals or a Killed By Death comp and then get a headache after three hours and switch to something else. I’ve done that at a couple of my jobs. I’d be like, “Cool, I can listen to music, man.” Two hours go by and I’m like, “Holy shit, it’s only been two hours? I don’t want to listen to music right now.”

It’s the same principle when you are driving a car on tour. Tim Presley from White Fence says not listening to records in the car makes the time go by faster because you’re just talking and thinking and relating. So if you’re working, listening to fast music might actually make the time go by slower.

You are at the beach with a boombox in tow...

Surf jams, man. The Astronauts and The Surf Creature are radical. Either that or I would play Beach Blvd., a comp of all Orange County punk bands from the late 70s. For me, surf music is a daily thing, and that’s not even because I surf. I just love that shit.

You just got back home after a date...

That depends on how the date goes. Not like that-- I’m flying solo. But it’s either that they were rad and there’s a second date or it went shitty and I’m fucking bummed. If it went well, I’ll probably go with the Buzzcocks, be like “yeah yeah yeah!” pogoing by myself in my living room. If the date went bad, I’d throw on the Les Rallizes Dénudés' Heavier Than a Death in the Family. Just like [makes white noise sound] kind of shit, just get a six pack and sit there.

Your iPod is broken and you have to use your old discman...

I don’t have any CDs except for a fucking burned copy of Enter the 36 Chambers, so that’s what it would be. I fucking love that record to the core of my person, it's one of my favorites. I eventually lost all of my old CDs because I got a tape deck in my car. I just buy records now.